'Midterm on Steroids' Floods Kitsap Voters' Mailboxes, TV Screens

A torrent of political advertising is gushing down on voters from all angles in what has become one of the most expensive elections ever — if not the most burdensome for voters.

But while the sheer volume of advertising has gone up statewide, local candidates are generally investing fewer dollars on ads this election, even in tightly contested races.

Kitsap County Commissioner Josh Brown has spent about $1,500 less in the two months leading up to Tuesday’s election than he did during the same period in 2006, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission. His opponent, Republican Abby Burlingame, has spent just $8,038 since the August primary. Brown’s 2006 opponent, Jack Hamilton, spent more than $49,000 on advertising over the same period in that campaign.

Incumbent state Rep. Fred Finn, D-Olympia, is being challenged by Republican Linda Simpson. Simpson ran within five percentage points of the incumbent in the August primary, yet she said she has only purchased 120 signs all year.

“I think it’s a complete waste of the money donated to their campaigns,” she said of other candidates who invest heavily in ads. Simpson’s campaign has spent so little money, she is not required to report her exact fundraising total under state PDC rules.

State Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, is an exception. Records show that has spent more than $65,000 on TV and radio spots, mailers, a Facebook ad and other methods of advertising. That’s six times more than what she spent on ads in all of 2006, reflecting the close contest she faces against this year’s opponent, Daniel Griffey.

The race between state Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, and political newcomer Doug Richards is more typical. Seaquist led by just 1,000 votes in the August primary. Since then, Seaquist has spent more than $53,000 on TV spots, signs and mailers.

That eclipses the amount Richards’ campaign spent during that same two-month window, but is still about $25,000 less than what Seaquist spent during the 2006 campaign.

So why are candidates in competitive Kitsap-area races not spending more?

One explanation is that recession-weary groups are directing their funds to the six statewide initiatives and one referendum on Tuesday’s ballot, leaving less money to go around in legislative and local races, said Dwight Pelz, the Washington State Democratic Party chairman.

“This is a highly contended election year,” said Pelz. “We’re seeing a midterm election on steroids, and that includes Washington state.”

Voters like Port Orchard’s Kathryn Simpson, a Republican, are having to shield their eyes from the glare of the advertising blitz.

“I don’t even look at the mailers anymore,” Simpson said. “They’re spending big bucks on these mailers and I probably get three or four a day. I just toss them.”

Driving the dense flow of mailers, commercials and phone calls, among other things, is the struggle for control of Congress, the tangle of initiatives and a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing anonymous donors to sponsor ads.

The United States Postal Service has seen a 10 percent jump in the amount of bulk political material it has processed in Washington state during this year’s election cycle compared to 2006, said Ernie Swanson, spokesman for the USPS in Seattle.

Voter sentiment seems to suggest that this year’s election ads are greater in both number and hostility.

“I think they’ve gotten worse and worse in this state since the first Chris Gregoire and Dino Rossi (gubernatorial) campaign” in 2004, Simpson said.

According to an analysis conducted by the Wesleyan Media Project of 700,000 television ad airings in Senate races, the percentage of ads that sling mud is unchanged from 2008. But this year, groups backing Democratic candidates are more likely to make personal attacks, while the focus of pro-Republican attack ads have become more policy-oriented.

Travis Ridout, a co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project and an associate professor of political science at Washington State University, says the GOP is funneling the tide of deep, nationwide discontent.

“They can complain about the things that Democrats have done over the past two years,” he said. “The war on Afghanistan, the Wall Street bail-out, the health care bill. They can attack that.”

Just don’t expect the barrage of ads to let up as Election Day nears.

According to the Kitsap County Auditor’s Office, 11 groups keep daily tabs on the names of Kitsap voters who either have or haven’t returned their ballots.